RTE conned by woman sharing ‘heartbreaking’ story of terminal illness

RTE was conned by a woman named Carrie Jade Williams, after she reached out to the national broadcaster with a heartbreaking story of terminal illness.

The incredible story caught the attention of producers – for just that reason – it was totally unbelievable in a sense that it was too good to be true.

After a number of revelations, the broadcaster found out the true identity of the con artist.

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In 2021, a 32-year-old English woman named Carrie Jade Williams contacted the RTÉ audio documentary unit with a heartbreaking story, telling the team that she had Huntington’s Disease and was terminally ill.

She claimed that she had been adopted so had no prior awareness of her medical history. She thought she might have a lifeline through lifesaving brain surgery, and she wanted RTÉ to record her final hope.

What followed was an unravelling of the most unusual of stories – Carrie Jade was not who she claimed to be – her real name is Samantha Cookes.

The documentary team were to discover over time that Carrie Jade Williams lived under a number of different identities. She sought out the vulnerable, right across Ireland and the UK, and despite several convictions and being unmasked many times, she has shown no sign of stopping.

The real story of Samantha Cookes and the people that she conned is about to be shared in a podcast produced by RTE, who now know the full story.

Ahead of the series release producer Ronan Kelly says: “She may have initially conned us into interviewing her for a podcast but that was nothing to what she did to her real victims: she stole their money, their property and, worst of all, their sense of trust.”

Narrator, Justine Stafford has said of the podcast “This is an incredible story. As in, the original meaning, just not credible. It’s impossible to believe anything Sam says.”

With direct access to Samantha Cookes, The Real Carrie Jade is a brand-new podcast series from the multi award winning RTÉ Documentary on One team behind Runaway Joe, The Nobody Zone and Finding Samantha, coming this Friday to RTÉ.

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